Liquid projecting device



Dec. 4, 1934. c E HQWETT LIQUID PROJEGTING DEVICE Filed Aug. 9) 1933 2Sheets-Sheet 1 3nnmto:

attorney 'Dec. 4, 1934.

c. E. HQWETT LIQUID PROJECTING DEVICE Fil ed Aug. 9, 1933' 2Sheets-Sheet 2 ZSqnentor attorney Patented Dec. 4, 1934 PATENT OFFICELIQUID PROJEGTIN G DEVICE Charles E. Howett, Lancaster,,Pa.

Application August 9,

4 Claims.

-"'Ihis'invention 'is an improvement on my invention forming the subjectmatter of my pending United States patent application Ser. No. 591,441,filed February 6, 1932 for Liquid projecting de- '5 vice, and relates tothe same type of device and is intended for the same uses.

This invention has for its primary object to provide a liquid projectingdevice with a frangible closure means, the device as a whole being ofsuch 1 length and Width as to extend nearly from side to side and fromend to end of the sheets of paper with which it is to be used and yetbeing of slightly less length and width than said sheets of paperwhereby in use the device in its associated relation to said papers willbe concealed at all points by said sheets of paper, and the frangibleclosure being of such construction and so located and related to saidbody that pressure at any point on the sides of said body between theend blocks thereof will result in breaking the frangible closure topermit the escape of liquid or gas contained within said body. A furtherobject is to provide means for pulling the fractured part of saidfrangible closure positively out of alignment with the discharge openingand to hold it away from said opening so as to prevent the obstructionof the latter thereby. I

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 represents a perspective View of a conventional packet orbundle of paper currency as gripped by the handof the teller as usual inhandling it through the tellers window, a device embodying my inventionbeing concealed in said packet of bills as indicated in dotted lines.

Figure 2, a perspective view of the device of my invention shownpartially inserted between two currency bills having their marginalportions pasted together in accordance with the preferred manner ofconcealment of the device;

Figure 3, a perspective exploded view of the front or business endportion of the body of the device secured in operative position in thefront block 6;

Figure 4, a sectional view on the line 4 4 of Fig. 5, looking in thedirection of the arrows;

Figure 5, a sectional view on the line 55 of Fig. 4, looking in thedirection of the arrows;

Figure 6, a cross sectional view on the line 66 of Fig. 4, looking inthe direction of the arrows; and

Figure 7, a greatly enlarged fragmentary detail view of the frangibleclosure.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, A designates the usual orconventional bundle or packet of one hundred currency bills held to-1933, Serial No. 684,455

gether by the usual paper gummed label or band B, and C an envelope orcamouflaged casing preferably comprised of two bills of currency andhaving their marginal end portions pasted together at allpoints exceptimmediately in front of the end of the discharge guard so as to concealthe device and to properly position it in the package, and to this endthe marginal end faces will be pasted together close up to the sides andends of the device so as to prevent possible twisting or displacement ofthe latter.

The device itself comprises a rear end plate or block 1, side members 3and 4, a front end block or plate 6, and closure means associated withthe latter.

The rear end plate or block 1 is of relatively thick rigid construction,elliptical in shape transversely of the device as a whole, and isprovided with an internally screw-threaded bore normally receiving aplug 2 which may be removed for purposes of filling or charging thedevice.

The front end block 6 will preferably correspond in shape and size tothe rear end block or plate 1 and said blocks 1 and 6 are respectivelyreceived between the respective opposed faces of the respective endportions of the sides 3 and 4 and are secured therein by soldering,welding, or other means or methods suitable to insure a liquid-tight andgas-tight joint at all points, and theside edge portions 5 of the side 3are lapped over and soldered or welded against the opposed faces of themarginal side portions of the side 4.

The block 6 is formed with a centrally disposed cylindrical socketextending from its rear face partially through said block to receive thetubular portion 7 of the frangible closure means which has integraltherewith a long curved tail or shank 8, the tubular portion 7 beingpartially cut through or nicked near its rear end as at 9 from itsexterior face.

An internally screw-threaded bore concentric with saidcylindrical socketextends from the front face of the block 6 to the said cylindricalsocket and an externally screw-threaded discharge or projecting tube 10screwed into said screw-threaded bore has its interior in communicationwith the interior of the tubular part '7 of said frangible closuremeans.

The shank 8 will preferably extend from the lower portion of the sleeve'7 rearwardly toward the rear block 1 for preferably more than half thelength of the sides 3 and 4 and has its extreme rear enddisposedextremely close to one of said sides, so that as pressure isexerted on said sides, said particular side will engage against theextreme rear end of the portion 8 and continued pressure thereon willbreak off the rear end of the tubular portion 7, so putting the interiorof said tubular portion in communication with the interior of the bodyof the device and permitting discharge of the liquid by pressure throughthe portion of the tubular member '7 left in its tubular socket and theinterior of the discharge or projection tube 10.

In the embodiment illustrated, which is the present preferredconstruction, the cut or nick 9 in the exterior of the tubular portion'7 is disposed at the closest point of said tubular portion 7 to theside wall, in this case 3, which is closest to the extreme rear endportion of the shank 8, whereby the fracture of the tubular portion 7 bypressure will be facilitated. Also in the embodiment illustrated theshank or tail 8 will extend rearwardly on a gentle curve or angle fromthe side portion of the tubular portion 7 distant from the nick or cut 9on a gentle curve or angle toward the side wall 3, though it is of noparticular importance whether said shank 8 extends on a continuousgentle curve or is of extremely wide obtuse angular form, or extends ina plurality of relating angular sections, or extends slantingly on astraight line.

In the embodiment illustrated the part, in particular the side wallapproached by the extreme rear end of the shank 8, in the instanceillustrated the side 3, is of such shape and construction, and theextreme rear end portion of the shank 8 approaches it so closely, beingin practice separated from it only by about the width of a hair line,that any substantial pressure exerted on any portion of the side 3between the front block 6 and the rear block 1 will exert a pressure onthe rear end of the shank or tail 8 suificient to fracture or snap thetubular portion 7 at the nick or slot 9.

The open forward end portion of the tubular portion 7 is of suchexternal diameter as to make a snug fit in the cylindrical socket abovereferred to in the block 6 and is to be secured therein in any knownsuitable liquid and gas-tight manner, as for instance by applying to theexterior of said portion '7 or to the wall of said socket any suitablecement 14 that will stand the heat incident to the soldering of theblock 6 in the front end of the casing. Most cements get soft and rununder the influence of the heat necessary to this soldering operation,but this is immaterial so long as its adhesive properties are notappreciably impaired.

In the embodiment illustrated a spring 13 is provided to pull thefractured part of the clo sure means out of alignment with the part ofthe tubular portion '7 retained in the cylindrical socket, so as not toobstruct the discharge of the liquid or gaseous contents of the body.This spring 13 should be of such material as not to be impaired by theheat of the soldering operation and normally would be under tension withone end hooked into a recess 12 in an extreme lateral portion of theblock 6 and with its other end hooked around the frangible closure meansjust to the rear of the nick or slot 9 preferably at the point ofmergence of the tubular portion 7 with the shank or tail portion 8.

If desired, a safety screw cap, not shown, may be applied to the extremefront end of the discharge or liquid projecting tube 10 for purposes ofshipment or storing, that is to say when the device is not kept at handready for instant use.

The device is, as illustrated, of such length and width as to extendnearly from side and from end to end of the currency bills or othervaluable papers with which it is to be used, and yet is of slightly lesslength and width than said currency bills or papers, whereby in use thedevice in its associated relation with said bills or papers will beconcealed at all points by said currency bills and whereby pressureexerted at practically any point between the sides and ends of saidbills will be exerted through said bills against the sides of said body,resulting in the fracturing of the frangible element and, on thecontinuance of such pressure, in the discharge of liquid or gascontained within the body.

In use the device constructed and charged with a liquid as illustratedand described is preferably to be concealed in a packet of bills asillustrated in Fig. 1, or between several bills and to be laid onseveral bills in the compartment of the cashiers money drawer, with theliquid projecting tube 19 presented away from the teller, that is towardthe usual counter or tellers window, so that as the bills or packet ofbills in which the device is concealed are picked up and,

thrust through the window the discharge or projecting tube 10 will bepresented directly toward the bandit facing the teller from the outsideof the tellers window. Under these conditions the teller in picking upthe loaded bundle of currency will inevitably exert a gripping orsqueezing pressure on the bundle of currency in his hand and normallythis pressure so exerted is about five pounds, and will be suiiicient tofracture the frangible closure means and cause the discharge of liquidin a thin or small but powerful stream for a distance of anywhere fromten to twenty feet, this stream of liquid normally being projecteddirectly into the bandits face, but in case the teller should be nervousor frightened and so move his arm or hand out of its normal path ofmovement under such circumstances, still the stream of liquid would ofnecessity be projected closely adjacent to the bandits face, which wouldbe all that would be necessary. This would be accomplished without anywarning movement or telltale click or other noise and there would beabsolutely nothing to warn the bandit of his risk, it would just happenbefore he knew anything about it.

Of course any suitable chemicals may be employed, either in liquid,gaseous, or semi-gaseous form, and if desired any suitable identifyingchemical or dye may be used in the liquid to mark the would-be banditfor purposes of identification should there be more than one and. one ofthem temporarily make his escape.

The sides 3 and 4 are to be of any suitable resilient material,preferably of relatively thin stiffly resilient sheet metal which willresume its original or normal shape or substantially so when relieved ofpressure.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. A liquid projecting device adapted to be interposed between severalof a plurality of ourrency bills to, together with said currency billswith which it is used, constitute a camouflaged defensive weapon insimulation of the usual untending to approximately the medial portion ofsaid body and approaching closely the adjacent inner face portion of oneof said side walls whereby when said body is deformed by pressure saidside wall will engage said portion of said frangible means and fracturesaid means to open said discharge passage, and resilient means connectedto said body and said frangible means and normally under tension and onthe fracturing of said frangible means acting to pull the fracturedportion thereof out of alignment with said discharge opening, saiddevice being of such length and width as to extend nearly from side toside and from end to end of the currency bills with which it is to beused and yet being of slightly less length and width than said currencybills, whereby in use the device in its associated relation with saidbills will be concealed at all points by said currency bills and wherebypressure exerted at practically any point between the sides and ends ofsaid bills will be exerted through said bills against the sides of saidbody.

2. A liquid projecting device adapted to be interposed between severalof a plurality of ourrency bills to, together with said currency billswith which it is used, constitute a camouflaged defensive weapon insimulation of the usual unloaded bundle of currency, said devicecomprising a long wide thin body having resilient deformable side walls,the front wall of said body being formed with a discharge passage andsaid body being adapted to contain a charge, in combination withfrangible means normally closing said discharge passage and having aportion extending to approximately the medial portion of said body andapproaching closely the adjacent inner face portion of one of said sidewalls whereby when said body is deformed by pressure said side wall willengage said portion of said frangible means and fracture said means toopen said discharge passage, said device being of such length and widthas to extend nearly from side to side and from end to end of thecurrency bills with which it is to be used and yet being of slightlyless length and width than said ourrency bills, whereby in use thedevice in its associated relation with said bills will be concealed atall points by said currency bills and whereby pressure exerted atpractically any point between the sides and ends of the said bills willbe exerted through said bills against the sides of said body.

3. A liquid projecting device adapted to be interposed between severalof a plurality of ourrency bills to, together with said currency billswith which it is used, constitute a camouflaged defensive weapon insimulation of the usual unloaded bundle of currency, said devicecomprising a long wide thin body having resilient deformable side walls,the front wall of said body being formed with a discharge passage andsaid body being adapted to contain a charge, in combination withfrangiblemeans normally closing said discharge passage and adapted to befractured by the deformation of one of said side walls to open saiddischarge passage, said device being of such length and width as toextend nearly from side to side and from end to end of the currencybills with which it is to be used and yet being of slightly less lengthand width than said currency bills, whereby in use the device in itsassociated relation with said bills will be concealed at all points bysaid currency bills and whereby pressure exerted at practically anypoint between the sides and ends of the said bills will be exertedthrough said bills against the sides of said body.

4. A liquid projecting device adapted to be interposed between severalof a plurality of ourrency bills to, together with said currency billswith which it is used, constitute a camouflaged defensive weapon insimulation of the usual unloaded bundle of currency, said devicecomprising a long wide thin body having resilient deformable side walls,the front wall of said body being formed with a discharge passage andsaid body being adapted to contain a charge, in combination withfrangible means normally closing said discharge passage and adapted tobe fractured by the deformation of one of said side walls to open saiddischarge passage.

CHARLES E. HOWETT.

